46 



Between the lateral and centre feathers is scarcely perceptible at- 

 a distance in the living bird. I have not been able to procure any 

 bird measuring more than 4| inches, total length, and in this, 

 the centre tail feathers are only 2\ inches long. This specimen 

 was shot in the north of the island ; individuals from this Pro- 

 vince, as far as I have observed, scarcely reach the above 

 dimensions. The length of an Indian bird is given as 6£ 

 inches ; tail 3| inches ; centre feathers \\ inches longer than 

 the rest (Jerdon.) 



The Indian tailor bird is one of' the most familiar occu- 

 pants of the gardens and compounds in the vicinity of Colombo^ 

 particularly where its favourite lettuce tree abounds, about the 

 branches of which it delights to hop, searching along the 

 bark for larvae and insects, and uttering every now and then 

 its loud and varied notes. The number of different monosyl- 

 labic sounds in this bird, leading one almost to suppose that 

 there are several species close at hand, and each one of which 

 it reiterates, at times, for several minutes together, is very 

 remarkable. Some of them may be syllabised — tchuk-up ; 

 iew-ike ; qnyk ; twike, &c. The most singular, however, is 

 the loud metallic sounding call, which may be likened to the 

 sharpening of a large saw, and which the male in the breeding- 

 season repeats without, an interval, until, if he be close at 

 hand, the sound becomes quite deafening. The peculiar black 

 mark or spot which is displayed at the side of the throat while 

 the bird is uttering its note, and 1 particularly when it is 

 excited, is caused more by a dark naked portion of skin in the 

 neck, just below the cheeks, than by the base of the feathers, 

 as some suppose. 



The tailor bird breeds in this district from May to Novem- 

 ber, the same pair probably rearing several broods in the year. 

 The nest is nearly always built in the leaf of a lettuce 



